In 1866, his second cousin, Alma Tadema, introduced him to the artistic scene in Brussels. He put Mesdag into contact with Willem Roelofs, a famous Dutch landscape painter, who would become his mentor. But before he started in Brussels, Mesdag spent the summer holiday in Oosterbeek at an artist’s colony. Following the example of the French painters of Barbizon, a group of Dutch landscape painters wanted to disengage from the academic tradition. By working outdoors, they strived for a realistic and pure representation of nature. These thoughts would eventually form the basis of the start of the Hague School.

In the spring of 1869, Mesdag with his wife and son moved to The Hague, which is located in close proximity of the sea. Not only did he move into a house with his family, but he also rented a room with sea view in a villa. Mesdag mostly worked from this room, or even outside on the beach or in the dunes. Here he would make many quick sketches and studies of the sea, the clouds in the air, and the fisherman boats. In his studio he would then turn them into paintings and watercolours.

Although Hendrik Willem Mesdag began his artistic career relatively late, within a few years he won one of the highest awards which a painter could obtain: a gold medal at the Paris Salon. From that time, the reputation of Mesdag was shaped considerably.

What makes Mesdag’s works so special is the depiction of the sky, the sea and the atmosphere. His skies are always elaborated, whether there are many or few clouds in the sky. Like many painters from the Hague School, Mesdag initially used slightly finer brushstrokes and later moved to wider brushstrokes. He had a feeling for light, colour and nuance. A soft evening atmosphere in a warm palette, a radiant midday sun against a blue sky or a raging wind out at sea: with Mesdag, you can almost feel what the weather was like. The same applies to the water. His gently rippling little waves are not less elaborated than a furious swirling sea. It is that reflection of the sun on the ripples of the water or the typical movement of the incoming and outgoing tide, which Mesdag succeeded in depicting so accurately. His paintings are amoung the most sought-after works of the Hague School, on a national and international level.